Turkish Coffee Grinder

Many years ago, Aya bought a brass coffee grinder in Istanbul. She only used it once and we have had it on the shelf for ages. After reading more about how important it is to have a proper grind for a good cup of coffee, we decided to give the thing a try.

In a nutshell, a consistent grind means the hot water acts on each grain more or less equally, drawing out ("extracting") just enough of the good stuff.
A consistent grind helps achieve a consistent extraction.

Our whirling-blade grinder gives a very inconsistent grind. Sometimes there are large bits, even whole beans, remaining while some grounds are too fine. We have also read that the blades can overheat the grounds, giving a burnt flavour.

The Turkish grinder is a beautiful thing; good heft and a lovely, warm colour.

Beans in the top.

Cap and handle on; first grind.

The first test was far too fine, since the grinder is naturally meant for Turkish coffee. These grounds may look big, but are actually clumps of extremely fine coffee powder. This would jam up our little stove-top pot.

There is a big nut at the bottom, so we gave this a turn and tried again.

Second grind.

After a few tests, turning the nut back and forth, we got a nice fineness.
The grind is very, very consistent.

The grounds are packed in and gently tamped down. If tamped down too hard, the grounds will expand as they get wet, jamming the flow of hot water and activating the pressure valve.

Screw on the top.

Onto the fire.

Mmm, coffeecoffeccoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee.

Foam from a jar of hot milk which has been shaken energetically.
More on this in another post some day.

A thing of beauty.

We have tasted this coffee a few times already, but this time it was very different. The flavour was deeper, richer and had a cocoa-like finish that carried on for a startlingly long time. There was no bitterness at the end of a sip. We wouldn't have guessed it was made from the same beans.

Pursuing the variables that go into making a good cup of coffee can be taken way too far. See, for example, some of the contributors to this very informative site. Having a proper grinder, however, now seems a necessity.

Never Do This

When Tim Horton's Donuts moved into a building at Main and Broadway, we weren't very happy. There is a feeling to the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood and it comes from the creative minds behind the independent businesses that have made it an interesting and vibrant place to live and visit. It doesn't come from franchise operations. But they are here to stay, and full of high-school kids every lunch hour. Well, at least it's a Canadian company.

Taking advantage of their deep fat fryers, we tried a salt/sweet flavour combination experiment that we are almost ashamed to post here; bacon sandwiches. On donuts. Seriously.

We fried up some extra-crispy bacon and stuffed it into warm donuts; sour cream glazed, toffee glazed, and French crullers. We had lovely scrambled eggs with cheese and spinach, and coffee (our own, not from TH), too, but they didn't completely undo the evil.

Don't do this.

How was it? Very good, but way too sweet. Sorry, TH, we won't be regulars.

All Souls Night at Mountain View Cemetery

What to do on Hallowe'en when you're an adult? You could do worse than to wander through Mountain View Cemetery, where there are little tents with musicians, torch-like burning logs, and lots and lots of candles and lanterns.

A gentle, misty rain was falling and there was a wandering choir providing an gentle, contemplative ambiance.

Thanksgiving Dinner, 2010

Aya planned and we prepared a full-course Thanksgiving dinner for eight, a week after the official date.

The menu. It is supposed to be "smoked pork jowl", not "smored", obviously.

Stuffing the oregano pesto down inside the turkey, between the skin and meat.

Injecting stock into the meat.

While there are no good photos of the roast bird on the table,

the meat was full of flavour and juicy.

The pesto saturated the whole thing with aromatic intensity.

A selection of some of the appetizers.

• Sautéed Pork With Apple
• Octopus Tentacles
• Chèvre And Dried Persimmon Spring Rolls
• Smoked Pork Jowls

Desserts!

• Egg Nog Pudding Spice Cake With Cranberries
• Pear Tart In Roast Nut Pastry With Chocolate
• Missing, Presumed Devoured: Pumpkin Cream Roll Cake

The wines, many of which came from our generous guests, included:

• Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut Cava with the appetizers
• Stony Knoll Chardonnay with the roast kabocha ravioli
• James Oatley Tik Tok Cabernet Sauvignon
• Rodney Strong Zinfandel
• Venturi Shulze Pinot Noir 2004 with the turkey... oh wow!
• La Frenz Vintage Port Style 2009 with desserts

Duck Dinner

With Keith's father in town a few weeks ago, we decided to sautée some duck from the always-excellent Windsor Packing Co. on Main Street.

Creamy green pea soup with fried Parmesan cheese biscuit.

Whole wheat pasta with blue cheese and walnuts.

 Slow-cooked giambotta.

Breast and thick legs of duck, getting some salt and pepper before cooking.

Duck leaks so much fat that it very soon becomes like deep-frying.

Cherry clafoutis.

What did we drink? Hmm... We'll try to figure that out and add it later. But we finished with Islay whisky, of course.

Trip To New York #2: Fantastic Food

We were able to keep our heads long enough to grab some photos of our meals, but most were so delicious that they were demolished before the camera came out.

A fantastic breakfast at Bread Alone in Rhinebeck, NY. From their menu: "Country Scramble Three eggs scrambled with baked ham, Old Chatham camembert, scallions, grilled tomatoes and organic French Sourdough toast."
and
"Huevos Benedicto: two poached eggs with saffron hollandaise and merguez sausage on a corn muffin, with plantain mash."
It's hard to overstate the deliciousness of the sweet corn muffin with the spicy merguez.

Massive chicken wings with blue cheese dressing, pulled pork, and a half-rack of ribs, all cooked to perfection and drenched in barbecue sauce at Max's Memphis BBQ just north of Rhinebeck, NY.

A New York Strip steak (but in New York they just call them Strips) grilled rare with sautéed spinach, and a plate of fresh gnocchi under arugula at the beautiful Park restaurant in New York City.

These meals were shared with family from far and wide, but the warmth of the company and the wonderful conversation is best left un-blogged, we think.

Trip To New York #1

Some pics from our autumn week-end in New York city.

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Two from the subway.

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Central Park Reservoir.

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Four from the Guggenheim; one inside, three outside.

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Fantastic lobster rolls at Luke's Lobster.

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The real reason we went to NY. Congratulations, Olivia and John!

YVR Sculpture

Most flights to Japan from YVR board at a gate near this wonderful statue. The dynamic pose, the flowing lines and shapes, the hilarious eyes are always a pleasure to see.

Red Weeks

Here's how it looked at five o'clock today on our street. We get two weeks of this each year and it is as lovely as the cherry blossoms of spring.

More From Our Trip To Japan In April, 2010

Sakai is a metal-working city, with a long history of manufacturing swords, guns, and, after the war, bicycles. We have some nice kitchen knives from Sakai which we bring back with us regularly to be sharpened by the people who made them.

This is how they make some kinds of knives; grinding forged steel blades one at a time on the big wheel. Keith got to try on a fresh blade (that could be fixed if he messed it up). The handles are very wobbly and it takes both force and concentration to get an even grind along the edge.



Aya's uncle sent us some madai (真鯛, or "red sea bream") he had caught near his home on Kyushu. They came in a special cooler-truck and the door-to-door delivery was about $25. Same-day delivery in Japan is just operating on a completely different level.

Bunches of fresh garlic in the local market.

Spring turning to summer; the sakura at the top of the hill in full bloom while the green bamboo grows lush below.